Date of Submission
Spring 2024
Academic Program
Mathematics
Project Advisor 1
Japheth Wood
Project Advisor 2
Japheth Wood
Abstract/Artist's Statement
Sliding block puzzles consist of an n-vertex planar connected graph with n−1 tiles or blocks and an empty space. The goal is to attain a specific tile arrangement through a sequence of moves, while adhering to the constraint of not lifting or jumping over tiles. Subgroups of symmetric groups are called “sliding block groups” if all of their elements are attainable permutations of some sliding block puzzle. This project will establish certain properties to these groups and give a proof establishing that the dihedral group $D_4$ is not a sliding block group.
Open Access Agreement
On-Campus only
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Feher, Milena KB, "From Sliding Blocks to Stumbling Blocks" (2024). Senior Projects Spring 2024. 88.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2024/88
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